ALMOST EXACTLY A year ago, Nick Timoney was seemingly the forgotten man at Ulster. One start in their opening nine games of the season reflected where he sat in the pecking order at Kingspan Stadium.
So, when the flanker gets a chance to sit down and reflect on 2021, he will surely only do so fondly given where he was at the turn of the year.
It was on 19 December 2020 that he was surprisingly thrust in from the start against Gloucester in the Heineken Champions Cup and, despite it coming in a losing effort, since then he’s barely been out of the line-up from a provincial perspective, starting 20 of their next 23 games in all competitions.
When Ulster were crying out for a replacement for Marcell Coetzee, turns out they already had one in-house. Duane Vermeulen wasn’t a bad second choice but, in between the two Springboks arriving and departing, Timoney has been outstanding at Kingspan Stadium and has been justifiably rewarded in green.
His first cap came against the USA over the summer, with the second a rather madcap dash just to be there in time to come on from the bench against Argentina last month, and on current form it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back in the mix for the Six Nations.
The 26-year-old has also been involved in big wins in recent weeks at Leinster and Clermont, just to add another two memories to put into the bank that is 2021. But, for all the accolades and plaudits, there’s still one thing missing: silverware.
“Even getting to the stage where I am now where I’ve won 90-odd caps, I actually don’t feel like I’ve accomplished that much because I haven’t won anything yet,” confesses Timoney.
“It seems like the mindset of the group is in a place where that pretty much is the consensus, so that’s exciting. I think we have a group that’s strong, that competes with the best teams in Europe, so why not?
“It’s a tough task to stay on it for the rest of the year and keep progressing because where we’ve got to now doesn’t win us trophies, but if we continue our arc of progression then I think it can do.
“It’s about every week acting as if it’s season-defining, which in European games like this it probably is. We’re getting practice in for big games and making sure we come out on the right end of the result now.”
In the past, the former Leinster Academy man has delved into the psychological side of the game as something he finds fascinating in terms of getting to that end result, and this week is no different given Ulster’s seeming inability to find any consistency since the international break.
Their first win at the RDS Arena since 2013 and first ever at the Stade Marcel-Michelin came either side of an unpredictable reverse at the Ospreys and leaves many wondering just what Ulster side will show up when they take on the Northampton Saints tonight in their second Champions Cup outing (8pm, BT Sport).
“I’ve come to realise over the last year or two that the game is largely psychological,” says the former Blackrock College man.
“I realised that over the Covid break when there were no crowds that what had been home advantage, which statistically decreased, was just you have however many thousand fans screaming for or against you and that affects you psychologically in some way. When I saw that decrease, I sort of realised maybe there is a huge thing to this.
“I think maybe we’re on our way towards figuring out the mental side of the game. Your reactions to everything are always based around your mindset to that point. Psychologically preparing for things not to go your way or what series of events might take place and planning your reaction to those has become a massive part of the game.
“It’s about focusing on the same things that we focus on for our big wins. Personally, I think we were somewhat guilty of changing our focus to the little things you can add, which you do have to do, but when you have a big win, instead of focusing on the things you can add, you should focus on the things that got you that big win is the important thing.
“They’re ultimately the basics and the fundamentals of rugby, and we focus on those every week, and if we keep touching up on the smaller things then I think we’ll do well.
“But it’s certainly not a case of us having switched off or anything of that stuff, I think it’s maybe the big games are bringing out the important stuff in us, and I think we’re constantly striving to look for areas and small improvements here and there, the one-percenters. Not letting those get in the way of the important things.
“One of the best things that came from the weekend was Clermont had that purple patch where they came back and we were struggling to contain them, and their threats, which are world class, were doing damage and they came back and took the lead.
“We had to experience their best and the game didn’t all go smoothly and perfectly, we had to show a bit of resiliency and composure in a hostile environment and against a world class team. I think that was pretty pleasing.”
With a priceless away win on the board – and in a place as hostile and difficult as Clermont – Ulster now have one foot in the last-16 already, but they have to firmly plant it there by backing it up against the Saints tonight, a team that they have recent history with in Europe.
The east Midlands club were conquered in the knockouts of the Challenge Cup last season, however it would ultimately be disappointment in the last-four for Ulster as they were eliminated by Leicester, something that still stings in the dressing room at Kingspan Stadium even now.
“I think we were disappointed with many of our European games last year, how we ended up finishing, where we had a lead (in Leicester) and not being able to convert it,” admits Timoney.
“We have a point to prove. We started that point (last) weekend and I think this week is huge for backing that up and proving we’re serious about Europe this year and we mean business. One win isn’t going to do that, so we have to back that up.”
Ulster:
15. Mike Lowry; 14. Craig Gilroy, 13. James Hume, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Ethan McIlroy; 10. Billy Burns, 9. John Cooney; 1. Andrew Warwick, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Marty Moore; 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Iain Henderson (captain); 6. Marcus Rea, 7. Nick Timoney, 8. Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16. John Andrew, 17. Jack McGrath, 18. Tom O’Toole, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. Sam Carter, 21. Nathan Doak, 22. Stewart Moore, 23. Greg Jones.
Northampton Saints:
15. Ahsee Tuala; 14. Ollie Sleightholme, 13. Matt Proctor, 12. Fraser Dingwall, 11. Courtnall Skosan; 10. George Furbank, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Alex Waller, 2. Mike Haywood, 3. Ehren Painter; 4. David Ribbans, 5. Api Ratuniyarawa; 6. Courtney Lawes, 7. Lewis Ludlam (captain), 8. Tom Wood.
Replacements: 16. James Fish, 17. Emmanuel Iyogun, 18. Conor Carey, 19. Alex Coles, 20. Juarno Augustus, 21. Tom James, 22. James Grayson, 23. Rory Hutchinson.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Former Munster hooker Mike Sherry joins Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey to discuss all the goings on from one of the most insane weeks of Irish rugby news in living memory.
